Medical guide wire grasping devices have been attempted in the past. The principal drawback of these devices is the failure of the devices to be user-friendly during critical periods of a medical procedure. A physician is therefore required to expend needless time, exertion, and/or concentration on the manipulation of a medical guide wire grasping device and/or medical guide wire during a medical procedure. The known devices have, in turn, caused physicians to become frustrated and/or unsatisfied with the grasping devices as known. In addition, the known guide wire grasping devices have increased the risk of potentially adverse complications to a patient due to the inability of a physician to satisfactorily grasp and manipulate a medical guide wire during a procedure.
The known guide wire grasping devices have also failed to incorporate a convenient feature for loading of a guide wire into or through the device. These devices have required a physician to twist the device and/or guide wire together for affixation. Conversely, to change the position of a device relative to the guide wire during a procedure, a physician was required to stop the procedure and untwist the guide wire from the device for re-attachment at a desired location. Significant time loss thereby occurred during the medical procedure, necessitating a patient to be exposed to anesthetics for an additional period of time which may otherwise have been avoided.
In addition, the devices attempted in the past have necessitated a medical provider to disassemble the device from a guide wire for repositioning on the guide wire or removal from the guide wire. The utility of these devices during a medical procedure was thereby significantly reduced.
Further, the devices attempted in the past were frequently quite small in diameter, causing difficulty in controlling of the device or guide wire while a medical provider was wearing sterile gloves. The small diameter of these devices caused the "bunching" or "rolling" of a physician's sterile gloves when the devices were rotated during a medical procedure. The medical provider/physician thereby had difficulty controlling and grasping the device during a procedure.
The devices attempted in the past also failed to provide an easy to recognize release/relocation feature identifiable by touch, which eliminated the necessity for the physician to remove his or her eyes from a patient or monitor during the manipulation of a guide wire. During critical periods within a medical procedure, a physician is required to simultaneously release/relocate a grasping device from a guide wire and maintain observation of a patient. The devices attempted in the past failed to enable a physician to continuously observe a patient while simultaneously relocating the device on a guide wire.
The devices attempted in the past also failed to provide for convenient use during the exchange of guide wires of varying diameter dimensions. These devices were required to be disassembled and/or unscrewed from a guide wire when substitute diameter guide wires were desired during a medical procedure. The utility of these devices was thereby significantly reduced.
The devices attempted in the past also failed to provide for convenient slip-free grasping by a medical provider during a procedure. The known devices, frequently due to size, materials, and/or texture, became slippery and difficult to grasp if exposed to bodily fluids during a medical procedure. The utility of these devices was thereby significantly reduced.
The medical guide wire torquing device described and disclosed herein overcomes these and other identifiable drawbacks of the guide wire grasping devices as known.